Janelle Monáe and M.I.A. Perform Amazing Bicoastal Hologram Duets

Maximum Performance

Billy Johnson, Jr.April 4, 2014

Janelle Monáe and M.I.A. performed two duets together Thursday night...without actually being in the same place.

Janelle played a set at Los Angeles's Quixote Studios as a hologram of her image was broadcast in New York alongside M.I.A. while she sang at SIR Stage 37. Digital footage of M.I.A. simultaneously played with Janelle in Los Angeles.

Janelle joined M.I.A. for a cover of the Sri Lankan's singer's "Bad Girls" and M.I.A. contributed vocals to Janelle's "Q.U.E.E.N." The 3D, bicoastal performance doubled as a launch event for Audi's A3 model.

In a 31-second clip posted online, Janelle's hologram appeared onstage with M.I.A. halfway through her song "Bad Girls." As Janelle sang and danced, her image floated across the stage, reminiscent of a ghost scene in a movie.

A bright, multicolored M.I.A. appeared onstage with Janelle. Janelle said she would have loved to watch the show from the crowd. "I wish I were in the audience because I'm sure it looked cooler from the audience, but it felt great," she said after he set, Billboard reports. "I felt M.I.A.'s spirit up there."

Janelle Monae, center, performs alongside holograms of M.I.A. during a launch party for the Audi M3 on Thursday, April 3, 2014 in West Hollywood, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

M.I.A. supports using holograms. "I think if you can have artist be a hologram and you can access it, and you have them life-size, in your house, it could be kind of cool," she told Billboard. "It's definitely cool for us and it's cool for me. I could be in 10 places at once."